This is a ton of stuff to get thrown at me all at once, I guess its a good thing I have basically a year to learn it all!

1bamashooter

01-10-2008, 19:08

Drop out NOW and go to RN school, way better pay and less hours, and best of all no grandma wanting to go to the hospital at 0300 cause she hasn't dropped a duce in a week.:freak::upeyes:

rk246

01-10-2008, 22:37

Drop out NOW and go to RN school, way better pay and less hours, and best of all no grandma wanting to go to the hospital at 0300 cause she hasn't dropped a duce in a week.:freak::upeyes:

Unless of course you are going to get into the Non-transporting Fire Service, where you will have the best job in the world and not be stuck in some hospital in goofy looking shoes and scrubs. Plus the pay is pretty dang decent with way better hours than being a nurse. Only working 9 days a month is hard to beat. :tongueout:

medic1213

01-12-2008, 20:38

Drop out NOW and go to RN school, way better pay and less hours, and best of all no grandma wanting to go to the hospital at 0300 cause she hasn't dropped a duce in a week.:freak::upeyes:

Yep, that was pretty much gonna be my response as well. I work as a critical care transport medic, right alongside an RN. I do the EXACT same thing they do on the back of the truck, yet I make about $6-10/hr less than they do. Unfortunately, I'm now pretty much stuck in this job because after 10 years doing it, I've made enough pay raises that I'd never be able to start somewhere else making anywhere close to what I make now. If I were a nurse, I could easily go to another service or hospital and make at least as much or more if I wanted to. As you'll soon learn (after the excitement of it wears off), paramedics are highly undervalued compared to nurses. My wife has been a nurse for almost 3 years now, yet she makes $6 more per hour than me (and that's with my 10 years of pay raises). Sure, I end up bringing home a good bit more than she because of overtime, but it's the fact that I could be making so much more doing the EXACT same thing I already do if I had those two letters after my name. Don't get me wrong, I make a very decent living at my job, but it's taken several years to get there, and it just sucks knowing that if I ever decide to go somewhere else, it's gonna cost me BIG $$$$ to do it. All that being said, my wife busts her *** harder in her 12 hour shift than I (usually) do in my 24 hour shift, so I guess it all works out in the end.

Congrats on your decision to further your education. Just know that for pretty much the same 2 years of school, you could get an RN degree that will actually pay off in the long run.

RLDS45S

01-13-2008, 12:04

I only work 12 days a month, working 12hr shifts as a RN. I make way more $ then I ever would as a medic....in the current state of things I am $10 per hr more then the highest seniority medic,with still more steps..on the pay scale.
A paramedic is GROSSLY undervalued health care professional....I would go back to street for the autonomy alone, but let's be real....there are trade offs made a long the way of life...

firemedic5595

01-14-2008, 09:51

Drop out NOW and go to RN school, way better pay and less hours, and best of all no grandma wanting to go to the hospital at 0300 cause she hasn't dropped a duce in a week.:freak::upeyes:

Ditto,
Both are 2 years in school or more. Become a firefighter and add some more time to that sentence.
I'm the 2rd most senior FF/EMT-P on my Department; other feathers in my hat include, arson investigator, Dive rescue, Hazmat Tech, Confined space recue, High angle rescue. All this and more can be yours for $16.10 an hour. I do get to operate the 95' tower at fires.....no extra pay for that responsibility. Or you can make more $$$ and work in the cozy confines of a climate controlled hospital/clinic.

Da-Squad

01-14-2008, 13:30

Congrats on your new job!

FL2011

01-14-2008, 20:51

Congrats and enjoy the journey!

I love emergency medicine and was able to "ride" with a local lifeflight crew one night while volunteering, pretty neat stuff.

I'm doing the med school route right now so I'll be staring down $200,000 in loans in a few years, should be worth it though.

Glkster19

01-15-2008, 19:36

I'm doing the med school route right now so I'll be staring down $200,000 in loans in a few years, should be worth it though.

At around $250,000/yr, yeah it should be worth it.

To be 20 again and make a few different decisions 2nd time around.

Short Bus

01-15-2008, 21:01

Drop out NOW and go to RN school, way better pay and less hours, and best of all no grandma wanting to go to the hospital at 0300 cause she hasn't dropped a duce in a week.:freak::upeyes:

Yeah, then being the nurse you get to do a manual digital disimpaction on that duce. I will pass. Plus it is much better being able to go eat where you want and not be stuck in the same place for 12 hours. Oh, and nurses don't get paid to sleep :tongueout:

medic1213

01-15-2008, 23:31

Yeah, then being the nurse you get to do a manual digital disimpaction on that duce. I will pass. Plus it is much better being able to go eat where you want and not be stuck in the same place for 12 hours. Oh, and nurses don't get paid to sleep :tongueout:

Nurses on our critical care trucks get to go eat where they want, aren't stuck in the same place for 12 hours, and they get paid to sleep... just like the paramedics, but at several dollars per hour more pay.

Short Bus

01-16-2008, 22:07

Nurses on our critical care trucks get to go eat where they want, aren't stuck in the same place for 12 hours, and they get paid to sleep... just like the paramedics, but at several dollars per hour more pay.

They are the exception though. Most are stuck on the floor or in the ED and are there for 12 hours.

I have thought about doing nursing for sometime. I just really like being on the road.

MedivacRN

01-16-2008, 22:39

They are the exception though. Most are stuck on the floor or in the ED and are there for 12 hours.

I have thought about doing nursing for sometime. I just really like being on the road.

They are the exception because that is where they want to be. If they wanted to be out on the open road, they very well could be. It takes time, education, and motivation, but the jobs are out there. I started as a volunteer EMT and am now a flight nurse. This is where I want to be. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of places to stop to eat on the way back from a call.

Paramedics are completely undervalued and underpaid. There is no doubt about that. The most insulting thing I have seen about medics was earlier today. I had to sign a paperwork today saying that I understood that I was a mandatory reporter for child/elder abuse. In the definitions section it has paramedics listed as "nonmedical provider". Total crap if you ask me.

Anyway, good luck with the education. Don't stop with just the license. Get all the classes, certs and education you can!

Bravo6

01-19-2008, 11:29

Wow... I probably should have mentioned that I plan on taking a bridge program to RN after the fire academy so I will have options! If the fire thing doesn't work out I might end up as a PA or ARNP... didn't mean to start a "RN vs Medic" thing, lol

medic1213

01-19-2008, 11:40

In the definitions section it has paramedics listed as "nonmedical provider". Total crap if you ask me.

Yep, that is total crap. I'm hoping it was just a typo that should have read "non-licensed medical provider", as that would have been correct. That is the main thing that is holding the EMS profession back, the fact that we are not licensed like nurses.

medic1213

01-19-2008, 11:51

Wow... I probably should have mentioned that I plan on taking a bridge program to RN after the fire academy so I will have options! If the fire thing doesn't work out I might end up as a PA or ARNP... didn't mean to start a "RN vs Medic" thing, lol

Nah, you haven't started the RN vs Medic thing. We couldn't tell if you had considered all your options, so a couple of us "seasoned" medics were giving you our insight which has been garnered from years of service, long after the "glory" aspect of being a medic has worn off. I definitely recommend you at least do the bridge program eventually. I need to get off my lazy butt and do it myself. It has taken me 10.5 years to get to my current pay level. I could do the online RN program in a little over 1 year, and change job titles doing the exact same thing, and get about a $5/hr raise. Factor that into a 48hr/wk schedule, and you can see that it will gross me about a $13,500/yr raise, not including optional overtime which will increase that difference considerably. Dang, I really need to get off my butt and start the Excelsior program.:upeyes:

lomfs24

01-19-2008, 22:30

There sounds like there are definately advantages to both sides of medic vs. RN debate. Locally, there are no nurses out in the field except three helicopters in the state that have flight nurses. So, if someone like me were to take a path down the RN route I would most likely be stuck in a hospital...or else I would have to move out of the state. I tried that once and had to come back.
Then there are some of us that are just adrenaline junkies and if we were to be stuck in a hospital we would slowly rott and die from the inside out.
Interesting comments from both points of view though.

lomfs24

01-19-2008, 22:32

Oh yeah, I almost forgot.

CONGRATS BRAVO6 ON THE WHOLE MEDIC THING!!!!!! Good luck in class.

hotpig

01-21-2008, 09:21

Drop out NOW and go to RN school, way better pay and less hours, and best of all no grandma wanting to go to the hospital at 0300 cause she hasn't dropped a duce in a week.:freak::upeyes:

+1 Many of the other medics I work with have. Every one of them say they wished that they did the RN sooner. They do not regret their experiences as a medic, it is just that they would have had a better life faster with the RN License.